Our Polish language methods encompass a modified communicative method. Our goal is to develop the student's competence in verbal communication and understanding while at the same time developing skills in reading and writing. Polish is used as much as possible, even at the beginner levels. Students are motivated and challenged by daily class activities focused on case studies and use of authentic primary source materials in Polish (newspapers, newsmagazines, books, literature, beaurocratic forms, etc) as well as various audio visual materials (films, videos, etc). Our Polish language students are given concrete tasks during lesson times and for home work. The student is the key player in the entire learning process. The language instructor's role is to stimulate the student, to moderate discussion and to control the didactic method in such a way as to maximize the learning experience of each and every individual Polish language student.

As mentioned above, the communicative method is modified. Thus, students may find some differences in the standard communicative methods used in teaching Western European languages. In the Polish language there is a much larger emphasis put on teaching and understanding of grammatical structures.

Grammar is at the fundamental root of the Polish language and is more important relatively as compared to most Western European languages. Unlike English, there are no articles in Polish and the position of a word in a Polish sentence does not play as an important role. Indeed, grammatical structures are essential for effective communication in Polish as the words themselves contain the grammatical functions. In the Polish language, word endings change both the form of the word and their function in the sentence.

Thus, our method is not only communicative, but also grammatical. A strong emphasis is put on learning grammatical structures and the fundamental connection between grammar and meaning in the Polish language.

Our students also benefit from Polish language instructors with a wealth of experience. Most of our instructors have completed at least 5-year philological degrees and also have special training for the teaching of Polish as a foreign language by the Institute of Polish Diaspora and Ethnic Studies at the prestigious Jagiellonian University in Krakow. All of our instructors all speak at least one foreign language, including English or German. Many of our Polish language instructors have previous teaching experience in universities and language schools in both Poland and abroad. Some also maintain current university appointments in Krakow. The quality of our instructors may be reflected in part by the fact that a group of our Polish language lecturers recently completed publication of a new series of text books for learning Polish as a foreign language under the European Union (EU) Sokrates/Lingua2 program. This series of Polish learning texts encompass 19 elements, culminating in preparation for the writing of the national Polish language exams (PL-B1).The full series of these Polish language text books are available to our Polish language students from Summer 2006.

While we are proud and confident of our Polish language teaching methods, it should also be stressed that we also endeavor to create an atmosphere that is pleasant and relaxed where any student at any level will feel comfortable. Learning Polish should of course be fun!

Join us for Polish Summer Courses 2008! Our next Polish Language Course Session begins on Monday,June 16! Spaces still available!

A KRAKOW SURVIVAL GUIDE: WHERE TO EAT, DRINK & PLAY IN KRAKOW
Warsaw-Life Gdansk-Life Zakopane-Life